Faced with a tough new law, New Jersey employers should dig into their payrolls and make sure women and minorities are paid the same as white men for equal work, experts said.

Otherwise? They could land in court and face a judgment that will be far more expensive than back pay, they said.

"It's a big deal," said Kathleen Caminiti, an employment lawyer at Fisher Phillips in Murray Hill. "New Jersey, when this law becomes effective this summer, will have the most progressive equal pay legislation in the country."

The law takes effect July 1. See more about the bill signing the video at the top of this story.

It is designed to help women close the wage gap that has left them making nearly 20 percent less than men, even though they make up half of the U.S. population and nearly 47 percent of employed workers, according to figures from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a research group.

The result, the group said: Women take home about $799 billion a year less than men.

Workplace equality has been in the spotlight. Susan Fowler, a Silicon Valley software engineer whose blog about her experience at Uber helped bring down the company's CEO, spoke at Monmouth University in West Long Branch recently, calling for federal legislation that would give employees more power to speak out against harassment.

Susan Fowler, the former Uber engineer whose searing parting note about the company's misogyny took down its CEO, speaks at Monmouth University Wednesday, April 11, 2018. (Photo: Thomas P. Costello)

Some companies aren't waiting. Most recently, Starbucks said it will close 8,000 stores on May 29 to provide racial-bias training for 175,000 employees. It comes after two black men, who said they were waiting for a friend, were arrested in one of its stores in Philadelphia.

What do you need to know about New Jersey's equal pay act? Here are five things:

1. Not just for women

The law is a change to the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, which not only protects women, but also workers based on: race, creed, color, national origin, nationality, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.

They long have been protected, entitled to compensatory and punitive damages. But now they can receive three times the amount of pay differential if a jury finds they have been discriminated against.

2. Are you sure you're not sexist?

The wage gap isn't entirely because of discrimination. But you can't dismiss it, either.

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth pointed to a study by Cornell University economists Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn.

They found women-dominant industries have lower overall pay. And they found women have fewer years experience than men in part because of family obligations. But they also found 38 percent of pay disparity can't be explained by empirical evidence, leading them to conclude discrimination remains a sizable factor.

3. How far back are we talking about?

An employee who has evidence of wage discrimination can receive back pay up to six years.

"The reasons why pay equity exists in some instances are very complex and are void of discriminatory reasons," the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, a lobbying group, said in a statement. "As such, we must be mindful of aggressive legal efforts to capitalize on the six-year lookback period, without merit, which will come at great expense to unsuspecting businesses."

4. What should workers do?

The law prohibits employers from retaliating against workers for discussing their compensation with co-workers. It means workers can simply ask their co-workers about their salaries to see if they are in line.

Workers can file a complaint with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

It could require them to bring up a subject that often is seen as taboo, said Mary Gatta, a sociology professor at City University of New York and a West Long Branch resident.

"Explicitly saying an employer cannot retaliate is a big deal," Gatta said. "That does provide protection for workers. It's a really important piece of legislation that's moving us in the right direction."

5. How can employers protect themselves?

Employers aren't required to pay everyone the same; they can take into account experience, education, quantity or quality of production to establish a merit-based system.

But they should review their payroll. And if they find disparities, the law requires that they fix them not by cutting the pay of the higher-paid worker, but by increasing the pay of the lower-paid worker.